Doctor Who - Page 79

superdoug · 08-06-2008, 05:45 PM

I'm a little worried about our resident Gallifreyan. He hasn't been around in a while. The same might also be said about JDH. Has something horrible happened in England that we're unaware of here in the states?

joy_division · 08-06-2008, 08:15 PM

sun's been out.

Maybe they are on holiday

JLM · 08-09-2008, 04:33 PM

I had to deal with an interstatial time helix or two these past weeks, but I'm back.

Doug's explanation was pretty much what I gathered after the usual Tennant one million MPH explanation to cover up the usual cod science RTD writes.

So now the Doctor can discharge "excess" regeneration energy and not go through with the change. Does this mean that he can keep some toenail clippings around and do the same so as not to regenerate on future occasions? :tounge:

In Confidential, David Tennant did ponder the question as to whether the Doctor has now used up one of his limited regenerations, but didn't give an answer, and we've yet to see how (if at all) the new series handles this. We've already seen that the Master has been through his regenerations, but has a new batch.

The question of controlling regenerations is interesting. Prior to regeneration the Ninth Doctor told Rose that his new form could be something totally non human, but the process can't be that random (he always turns into a middle aged white dude) or he must be able to control the change to some degree (and for some reason he was scaring Rose even more than he knew she would already be).

The Time Lords also offered the Second Doctor a choice of appearance before he was exiled to Earth, but they were all declined (though that was the Doctor being difficult).

Romana was able to control her regeneration pretty exactly. She was quite uninhibited that her academic qualifications were higher than to Doctor's, so maybe there's training she has that he doesn't, or maybe the Doctor isn't too concerned about his external appearance (until now anyway) or chooses not to exert such a high degree of control over the change.

In The Caves of Androzani there is a moment where the Fifth Doctor shakes off his impending regeneration. It's while he's in the ship, returning to the planet, and the regeneration effect starts, but the Doctor shakes it off. It's quite subtle, and I only found out about it when listening to the DVD commentary.

superdoug · 08-09-2008, 04:39 PM

Welcome back, JLM! Good thoughts on the regenerations. And I'd forgotten that bit about Romana touting her academic prowess. Maybe that's it.

What'd you think of my metacrisis theory re: Traken, and Nyssa's father?

JLM · 08-09-2008, 05:02 PM

The explanation I've always gone with for the Master/Nyssa'a father is that it doesn't count as a "proper" regeneration.

In The Five Doctors, the High Council offers him a new regeneration cycle in return for his help. Why would he need this, if he already had this? A bit later in the same story, when The Master meets the Third Doctor he's asked if he's regenerated and the answer is a somewhat awkward "something like that".

As well as writing the screenplay, Terrance D!cks also wrote the novelisation of the show (great way to relive episodes before video). In the novel, he created some additional motivation for the Master to help by adding that, having used his alloted regenerations, the Master is keeping himself alive by psychically "hijacking" others' bodies. However, it's a rather grotesque process, the bodies decompose quickly, and the Master is desperate to be free of it.

OK, that last bit's from the novel, so you can dispute how canonical it is, but I like it, and Eric Roberts does start to decompose in the Paul McGann movie after such a "hijack" (he pulls his fingernails off - nice).

superdoug · 08-09-2008, 05:13 PM

Wow. That's interesting. I guess i didn't remember that deal being struck. But the psychic hijack explanation is good. I should try and track that book down and give it a read. And it totally explains what happened on Traken, and the Master's appearance.

Nyssa's father must have held on the longest, though, because wasn't Ainley The Master through the McCoy run? Must be the Traken physiology.

I really will have to find that book. The episode's out on disc, yes?

JLM · 08-10-2008, 09:00 AM

The Five Doctors is available on DVD in the UK, and I'm fairly sure that there is a US release too.

A "Special Edition" was created that included scenes deleted from the original televised version and improved SFX. I prefer the original version, and the current UK release includes both. I am unsure whether the US DVD includes both versions, or if it's only one version, which version.

The novel is long out of print, but I'm sure you could get it on eBay/Amazon Marketplace.

JLM · 08-14-2008, 04:01 PM

Which Doctor Who character are you?

http://www.gas-agency.co.uk/Clients/...panionareyou//

I'm The Doctor!

rric528 · 08-14-2008, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JLM

Which Doctor Who character are you?

http://www.gas-agency.co.uk/Clients/...panionareyou//

I'm The Doctor!

ARRGH! I was Rose. I don't wanna be Rose, I wanna be Capt. Jack!

rric528 · 08-14-2008, 04:36 PM

P.S. Glad to see you back JLM.